de Novo employees Alicia and Jen talking as Becca walks by

About de Novo

This is the only time that it's all about us.

At de Novo, we take a fresh approach to bring companies, products and services to market, blending years of experience in branding, marketing and communications with today’s knowledge and technology. Like our clients, every project we undertake is different.

We’re a full-service marketing agency. We start with your goals, build a strategy and combine it with the best thought leadership on customer decision-making to develop and deploy solutions that reach your audience. But we don’t stop there. We actively analyze the results to continually improve. We call it our Collective Creative. From video production to design, web development and research—we choose the methodology that gets the best results.

Founded in 2007 by Heather Friedman, de Novo grew with the addition of Jen Neumann as Partner in 2008. These two crazy, intrepid women built de Novo from “two chicks working in a closet” to one of the most successful, thriving and respected marketing firms in the region. Heather retired from de Novo in 2019, and Jen Neumann now serves as owner and CEO of the firm. In reality though, it’s the Collective Creative that makes the marketing magic happen. As a team, we never stop learning and are endlessly curious.

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And we're a helluva lot of fun to work with.

Want to make marketing history together?

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Our History

We’ve been around since 2007, we’ve grown like crazy and we’re still cranking out the creative.

2007

de Novo Alternative Marketing LLC is incorporated in Cedar Rapids, IA by Heather Smith Friedman. It opens an office at the Armstrong Centre in Cedar Rapids and is the size of a very nice closet.

February 2008

Jen Neumann joins de Novo as a Partner. Things get weird.

April 1, 2008

de Novo moves into a refurbished space in the Iowa Theatre Building. (Bonus points if you know how many coats of paint it took to paint the walls red.)

June 13, 2008

de Novo officially evacuates its office as the Cedar River crests at 31’ during the historic flood of 2008.

September 2008

All employees are displaced by the flood and Jen accidentally sets fire to Heather’s dining room table during a staff meeting. There may have been wine involved.

2009

de Novo moves into its new digs in the Guaranty Bank building in downtown Cedar Rapids.

2010

de Novo begins to grow rapidly, with employees specializing in video, web and design joining the team.

May 2012

de Novo officially outgrows its space and moves to its current location in the Cherry Building in the NewBo District of Cedar Rapids. Heather says “We’ll never outgrow this space!”

2013

de Novo is designated as one of the Corridor Business Journal’s “Coolest Places to Work.”

2014

de Novo is AGAIN designated as a “Coolest Places to Work” company.

2015

de Novo expands to the second floor of the Cherry Building and builds studio and audio suites, as well as more office space and a conference room.

2016

de Novo is temporarily displaced by another flood. #neverthelesswepersisted

2017

de Novo is named #14 on the list of the Corridor Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Companies.

2017

de Novo is named Corridor’s Best PR & Advertising Agency.

2017

de Novo earns another “Coolest Places to Work” designation.

2018

de Novo acquires Annex Analytics.

2019

de Novo earns yet another “Coolest Places to Work” designation.

December 2019

de Novo acquires WDG Communications. #wekeeprolling

March 2020

Coronavirus pandemic sends de Novo staff home to work remotely. (Good thing this isn’t our first rodeo.)

2020

de Novo named to the Fastest Growing Companies list AND Best PR & Advertising Agency. Again. We’d like to thank the Academy…

2021

de Novo named the Best PR & Advertising Agency in the Corridor. We never get tired of this.
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And the beat goes on.

#cantstop #wontstop